~ Being Successful- At Work & Play

Monthly Archives: December 2010

The festive season made me choose this topic for today’s post. The holiday and festive season makes people hog more than they normally would or should! Rich dishes, tasty treats and a series of feasts makes us throw caution to the winds as we sink our teeth into the delicacies. ” Calories be damned!” goes the word. It’s only later that the calorie conscious scurry for cover as they check their weights post the festivities!

“If you are a thriller buff, then Prem Rao’s “It Can’t Be …is a must read”. It came as a pleasant surprise to find that my debut novel “It Can’t Be You” and its author were featured in a recent issue of The Hindu, one of India’s oldest and most respected newspapers.

It’s with mixed feelings that I transit from my role as a Talent Management specialist and executive coach to my new chosen role of being a full-time thriller writer! One part of me misses the professional work that invigorated me and kept me going through ups and downs for 36 years. Another wants me to put that behind me in one sense and move on to a new life as a writer. Continue reading →

590 million will live in cities in India in 2030, more than the entire population of the United States; 270 million will be the net increase in the working age population; 70 % of net new employment will be generated in the cities; 68 cities will have populations in excess of 1 million, up from 42 today ( Europe has 35 today). The stats projected are truly staggering. For those who us who live in India’s cities, the future can be seen as being both exciting and frightening! India’s urban awakening is often written about Continue reading →

If you are a blogger and wish to interact with a host of bloggers in the HR, business space, I have a suggestion for you. Why don’t you host a HR Carnival? I have done this in the past and have made many new friends through this process. These are scattered all over the world!

Shauna Moerke , frequently called The HR Minion, runs the HR Carnival. She has done an amazing job

When I underwent heart surgery some months ago at Bangalore’s Fortis Hospital at Bannerghatta Road, I found that the chap in the private room next to mine was from the US. Walking down the corridor a few days later on my way to recovery, I bumped into a person from Kuwait and another from Nigeria. These were perhaps a small sample of the many thousands who come to India every year for healthcare, particularly surgical procedures which would cost them, if you will pardon the poor pun, a hand and a foot in their countries. In addition of course to the competence of the doctors and nursing staff here in India.

Thank you, Barbara Dunn for drawing my attention to the damage caused by Healthcare-associated infections. Isn’t it ironical that in-patients in hospitals fall prey to infections other than the ones they were being treated for in the first place? I was surprised to hear that healthcare-associated infections are one of the top ten leading causes of death in the United States. This is prevalent all over the world with the World Health Organization (WHO) estimating that, at any point in time, 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from infections acquired in hospitals.

The longer you are unemployed, the more difficult it is for you to get employed. That’s it. This was known earlier but is underscored once again as there seems to be no big turn around in the US employment scene. An article in the New York Times speaks of many who are being pushed into the category of ‘long term” unemployed, for six months or more, due to the passage of time.

I had written some time back about my debut novel being published. It was a proud moment for me on November 29 when It Can’t Be You, my psychological thriller was launched by Subroto Bagchi, Vice-Chairman and Gardener of MindTree Limited. An old dream has come true. You might like to catch a glimpse of the book launch and the book in this YouTube post.

Watching organisations grow and slow down is quite fascinating. This underlines the inevitable conclusion that like human beings, organisations too must grow and die. However, unlike human beings, organisations have the option of re-inventing themselves, getting acquired or acquiring others to increase their competitiveness and consequently their longevity. The skills needed at each phase of the organisation – from start-up through candidate for take over due to lack of profitability- are quite different. Indeed, the mind-set of CEOs need to be different during the different phases in the life of an organisation.